Universal balance testing machine with automatic hold



J. P. LANNEN July 15, 1969 UNIVERSAL BALANCE TESTING MACHINE WITH AUTOMATIC HOLD I Filed April 27, 1967 N R E m E L N L n In w R 3 H" m n .u 4 H T 1 6 5 l- 1 J Y. B Ill: 0 B m: IN a l I I a 0 5 I l I 1 I I I I I I 1 I I 2 2 7 A l l H| |w I l l I l l I I I l l IIMUJ-IIVII'IIIIIIII l l 2 .4 .1 h 2M n n .n. u 4 \ulmy 2 F 9 1 a H a rnvrlx 4 6 9 8 R 8 I m 2 2 2 l 2 2 W. Q 3 M t a H- I 4 H l firdw I I. H II 4 l 3 0 ll 7 2 6 2 l I. I F

United States Patent 3,455,170 UNIVERSAL BALANCE TESTING MACHINE WITH AUTOMATIC HOLD Joseph P. Lannen, 15849 Schoolcraft, Detroit, Mich. 48227 Filed Apr. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 634,300

Int. Cl. G01m 1/16 US. Cl. 73-483 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A workpiece carrier supported for tilting travel upon an arcuately spherical, universal pivot, which pivot rests upon a seat having a corresponding sphericity. Said seat is formed in a casting mounted upon a top surface of a housing; said pivot carries, as part of a unit, the workpiece carrier, a rod elongated downwardly through and beneath said top surface to tilt with said workpiece carrier and pivot in a path of travel responsive to, and determined by, the imbalance of a workpiece on the carrier. An annular member having an annular, spherically concave, circumferential surface, is carried concentrically on the lower end of said rod to complete said unit. A fluid motor is disposed on a platform beneath said top wall, and has a piston rod protruding upwardly from said motor to mount an upwardly opening frusto-conical chamber to enclose said annular member. The fluid motor may be energized to retract said piston rod, and draw the inclined wall of said conical chamber into engagement with said annular, spherically concave, circumferential surface to restrain the unit from tilting travel. Said motor may also be energized to extend said piston to free said spherically concave, circumferential surface from such restraint, and allow the unit to ease, in tilting travel, into a position dictated by the amount and direction of workpiece imbalance.

Related patents The pivotal means of the ensuing disclosure is closely analogous to the disclosure of Patent 3,181,371, issued to the present applicant on May 4, 1965, on a Universal Balance Testing Machine, showing means to lubricate such pivot under pressure. It is though unnecessary to repeat herein the disclosure of said patent as to a pump, relief valve, and oil reservoir incorporated in the lubrication system.

Brief summary of invention This invention relates to universal balancing machines as above described which employ a pivotal travel to determine imbalance, and particularly to such machines as employ means to restrain pivotal travel while a workpiece is loaded 'on a' workpiece carrier, and to remove said restraint to allow such pivotal travel as is required to bring the workpiece and carrier into a tilted attitude determined by the amount and direction of such'imbalance.

In a balancing machine as above described, the pivot affords tilting travel of such a unit as described above,

along a path, and with a momentum, determined by the amount and radial direction of the imbalance in any workpiece placed on the carrier. Said pivot is so well lubricated forded manually by means of a crank and cam assembly (32, 34). The following specification discloses a fluid energized mechanism to restrain the unit from travel, while a workpiece is placed on the carrier, and to release it for such travel when desired.

An object of the invention is to provide in a unit, a workpiece carrier, a pivot, a rod, and said annular member, as aforesaid, and to further provide a chamber enclosing said annular member, and to provide means to move said chamber between a first position in which said chamber engages said member and restrains the unit from said travel, and a second position in which said chamber releases said member to afford said travel of the unit.

A further object is to incline said wall upwardly and to form an open-mouthed, frusto-conical chamber, with the annular member disposed in said chamber and with the rod passing freely through said mouth, so that the chamber restrains said travel in said first position, and affords said travel in the second position.

A further object is to provide means to ensure that the speed with which said release is effected, will be less than the maximum speed that a predetermined minimum imbalance of a workpiece could impart.

These and various other objects are attained in the construction hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the device, showing a bubble level mounted upon the pivot means.

FIG. 2 is a vertical, partial, sectional elevational view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, but showing the bubble level in section and showing pneumatic means to move said chamber between said positions.

In these views, the reference character 1 designates a hollow base including a cover plate 2 having a central aperture 3. A casting 4 surmounts the plate 2 in a covering relation to said aperture and is rigidly bolted to the plate as indicated at 5. Integral with and upstanding on said casting is an annular seating member 6 having its upper end face spherically and concavely curved about a pivot locus 7 in the upwardly extended vertical axis of said seating member. Normally seated on and above the seating member 6 is an annular work carrier 8, having an enlarged lower portion 9 presenting to said seating member a spherically and convexly curved annular face complementary to that of said seating member. The described arrangement is such that a workpiece (not shown) loaded on the carrier 8 may tilt in unison with the carrier about the locus 7 in any direction responsive to imbalance of the workpiece.

To minimize friction between the spherical faces and thus increase sensitivity of the machine, it is preferred to subject the carrier 8 to upward pressure of a fluid, preferably oil. As best shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the

seating member 6 is formed with a suitable number of vertical passages 10 delivering oil upwardly from an annular passage 11 at the base of said member, to the spherical top face of said member through an upper an nular channel 11a. The passage 11 receives oil from a tube 12' leading from a pump(not shown). Adjoining the member 6, the casting 4 is formed with inner and outer annular, open-topped chambers 15 and 16 receiving oil discharging from the spherical pivot-forming faces. Said chambers are interconnected by one or more passages 15, and a tube 16 drains oil from said chambers.

A cover 9a is received upon the carrier, and is formed with a downwardly extending flange 9b having an interiorly tapered edge to minimize the possibility that oil might escape, but designed to allow travel of the carrier about the locus of said pivot.

To indicate the amount and radial direction of imbalance determined by the direction and final extent of travel of the carrier, any suitable type of device may be employed. The illustrated level 17 is seated on the outer end portion of an arm 17a radially projecting from the carrier. Screws 18 secure the inner end of said arm to the carrier. An adapter 19 to receive a workpiece (not shown) surmounts the carrier 8 and may be secured thereto by any conventional means.

A circular recess 20 is formed in the top face of the carrier 8, to receive a spacer 21. A screw 22 extends through the spacer to threadedly engage in the upper end portion 23 of a rod 24. Said upper end portion 23 is concentrically received in the carrier and retained therein by said screw. A sleeve 25 forms the inner wall of said innermost annular chamber 13, and] extends through the bottom wall of said chamber, through the annular passage 11, and the bottom wall thereof. Obviously, the sleeve must have an oil sealing engagement in said bottom walls for maximum efiiciency of the lubrication system.

An annular member 26 is secured to the lower end of said rod 24, whereby workpiece adapter 19, the carrier 8, the rod 23, 24 and said annular member form a unit to travel about the locus 7 of the radially spherical pivot of the carrier responsive to imbalance of a workpiece. Said annular member is formed with an annular, spherically concave circumferential surface 27. A screw 26a secures said member in position.

Beneath the cover plate 2 and within said hollow base 1, is a pneumatic (or hydraulic) motor 27 having a piston rod 28. The upper end portion of said piston rod may be threadedly and concentrically engaged in a disc 29. Surmounting said disc is an annular wall 30, inwardly, upwardly inclined to form a frusto-conical, open-mouthed chamber 31. Said wall may be threaded, or press-fitted upon the disc 19, or otherwise releasably secured thereto. The rod 24 extends through the mouth of said chamber 31, and, as is clear from FIG. 2, said annular member is enclosed therein.

A platform 32 mounts the motor 27. Elongated bolts 33, received in spacer sleeves 34, have their upper end portions threadedly received in the casting 4, as at 35. Nuts 36 are applied to the threaded lower end of said bolts 33 to retain the platform 32 in position.

It is now clear that a workpiece, placed upon the adapter 19 will tend to tilt the unit 19, 8, 24, 26 in travel about the locus 7 of the spherical pivot. Any conventional means may be employed to actuate the pneumatic motor to move the walled chamber 30, 31, between a first position in which an annular area of the chamber wall engages an annular area of the spherically concave, circumferential surface of said member 26 to restrain said unit 19, 8, 24, 26 from pivotal travel, and a second position (as shown in FIG. 2) to afford said travel.

When said means actuates the motor 27 to move the piston rod and chamber upwardly, the imbalance of a workpiece will cause the pivot to move in tilting travel. However, the travel of the piston rod is at a rate predeterminedly less than the maximum rate of tilting travel that a predetermined minimum imbalance can impart to said unit, so that said unit is allowed to quickly ease into a tilted attitude dictated by said imbalance. Such control may be effected by any conventional type of valve (not shown) having an adjustment to regulate the fluid passing therethrough.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for testing imbalance of an annular workpiece, said machine including a workpiece carrier,

a pivot mounting said carrier to afford universal pivotal travel of said carrier to a tilted attitude determined by such imbalance,

a rod carried by and extending downwardly from said pivot,

a member having a circumferential surface carried by said rod,

a walled chamber enclosing said member,

retractable means carrying said chamber, said retractable means being movable between a first position in which the wall of said chamber engages said circumferential surface to releasably hold said member, rod and pivot immovable, and a second position in which said workpiece is allowed to tilt said member, rod and pivot to an attitude determined by workpiece imbalance, and

means to measure such imbalance.

2. In a balance testing machine as set forth in claim 1, said wall being inwardly, upwardly inclined to form a frusto-conical chamber enclosing said member, said chamber having an opening to pass said rod.

3. In a machine as set forth in claim 2, said circumferential surface being spherically, arcuately, contoured, to afford said chamber wall and said surface an annular area of engagement.

4. In machine as set forth in claim 3,

said retractable means being adapted to move said chamber to said first position from said second position more slowly than a predetermined minimum imbalance Will move said pivot,

whereby said imbalance may case said pivot rod and member into an attitude determined by the amount of imbalance.

5. In a machine as set forth in claim 3,

a housing having a substantially horizontal top wall,

a seat for said annular pivot mounted upon said top wall,

an aperture in said wall to pass the downwardly extending rod,

a platform,

means suspending said platform beneath said top wall, said retractable means being a fluid motor having a piston and piston rod, said motor being disposed beneath said member upon said platform, and said frusto-conical chamber being carried on the upper end portion of said piston rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JAMES J. GILL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

